"Daddy….Daddy….I want to make cookies!" JR yelled, running into the kitchen and wrapping her arms around Michael’s legs.

Michael reached down lifting his daughter into his arms, dropping a kiss on her nose.

"Do you just?" Michael asked. "And what sort of cookies do you want to make?"

"Chocolate ones Daddy!" JR replied, clapping her hands together.

Michael lowered JR to the floor and opened the cupboard grabbing a recipe book and flipping through it.

"Like these?" He asked when he’d found a picture of what he thought JR wanted and held the book down for her to see.

"No Daddy!" JR said, shaking her head.

"What then?" Michael asked confused. He always left the cooking in any shape or form to Ben but he was having an early morning work out at the gym and somehow he knew convincing JR to wait until he got home would not work.

JR pulled the book from Michael’s hands and sat down on the floor. Michael watched as she carefully turned each page, studying every picture, her head cocked to one side as she balanced the large book on her knees.

"These ones Daddy!" She jumped up, pushing the book at her father.

Michael looked at the picture groaning.

"They look complicated honeybun." He said before flipping through some more pages "How about these, they look pretty?"

"No!" JR stamped her foot and Michael could see a tantrum on the horizon by the determined look on her face. "I want the other ones, the ones with sprinkles on them!"

Michael sighed. He was sure they didn’t have any sprinkles in the cupboard and the thought of heading to the market with a grumpy JR didn’t appeal.

"We don’t have any sprinkles." Michael said and waited for the roar from JR. She didn’t disappoint.

"I want sprinkles!" She yelled, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, her bottom lip trembling.

Michael scooped her up into his arms, letting out a loud ‘ouch’ when her small foot kicked him in the stomach.

"Listen JR." He said, wiping away her tears. "If you let Daddy have a cup of coffee, we’ll go to the market and get some sprinkles and by then Daddy Ben may be home and he can help you make them."

JR stopped crying instantly and wrapped her arms around her father’s neck.

"Ok Daddy but I want YOU to make them with me."

"But Daddy Ben is a much better cook than I am." Michael laughed.

"I know he is Daddy, he makes the best food ever but I want to surprise him and Hunter!" JR said a wide smile on her face.

They would be more than surprised if anything he made turned out to be edible Michael thought but he decided it maybe fun, if not a little stressful, making cookies with JR.

"Ok Honeybun we’ll give it a go." Michael stated. "Now go and watch TV while Daddy has his coffee."

Michael stood JR back on her feet watching as she ran out the room and picked up his coffee as the sound of the TV filled the house.

An hour later they trudged through the door with a bag of groceries. The shopping trip had gone better than he’d expected. JR’s excitement at finding sprinkles as well as some other treats she had somehow managed to throw into the trolley without his knowledge, made him realize how much he missed spending time with his daughter. Now she was at school he and Ben only visited on weekends and in the school holidays. When the girls had suggested she come and spend a week with them during the mid-term break he’d jumped at the chance.

"Hurry up Daddy!" JR demanded as she pulled a bowl from the cupboard handing it to Michael.

Michael picked her up, sitting her on the counter as he turned on the oven and gathered together what they would need.

"I want to help Daddy." JR said, reaching for the bag of flour, trying to open it and letting out a shriek when the bag burst and flour flew everywhere covering them both in fine white powder. Michael tried hard not to laugh as he brushed it out of his hair as JR’s giggles filled the kitchen.

He decided it would be a waste of time cleaning up the mess now, quite sure that by the time they had finished there would be more than flour covering not only them but the kitchen as well. He handed JR a large spoon.

"You stir it honeybun while Daddy puts in the rest of the stuff." He said, measuring out the necessary ingredients carefully and adding them to the bowl.

JR sat quietly on the counter, following his instructions until he was satisfied that he had followed the directions completely and they would hopefully turn out looking something like the picture in the book.

He reached over and grabbed the oven tray and narrowly avoided being hit by the spoon JR was holding up, her pudgy fingers picking at the cookiedough attached to it.

"Taste good does it sweetie?" Michael asked and received a happy smile from his daughter in response.

"Good! Now we need to get them into the oven." Michael said, as he put spoonfuls onto the tray until it was covered.

"When can we eat them Daddy?" JR asked, running her fingers around the edge of the bowl getting the last remnants of the dough.

"Mmmmm…..it says fifteen minutes." Michael answered as he put the tray in the oven "So that gives us time to clean the kitchen before Daddy Ben gets home."

He lifted JR down, brushing a mixture of flour and other unrecognizable things from her clothing.

"I want to put the sprinkles on!" JR said.

"Of course you can but let’s get you cleaned up first and then we’ll see if they’re ready." Michael decided the mess in the kitchen could wait until JR had decorated the cookies.

He followed her to the bathroom, washing the dough from around her mouth and when they returned to the kitchen they were greeted by a delicious aroma wafting through the air.

Michael peeked in the oven, amazed to see a tray filled with what looked like perfectly shaped biscuits. At that moment the timer went off and Michael carefully lifted the tray out of the oven and proceeded to carefully remove the cookies, placing them on a rack.

"Ok, we have to let them get cold." He told JR as he put the tray in the basin "So how about we make the chocolate icing."
"Yes Daddy!" JR nodded her head excitedly reaching up to be once again lifted onto the counter.

Michael found what they needed and by the time they had the icing ready the cookies were cold enough to ice they decided. He carefully spread the icing over each one then handed JR the shaker and watched as she covered each cookie with a large amount of the sprinkles.

"Oh Daddy they are so pretty!" She declared when the last one was done.

Michael picked her up, snuggling her against his chest before gazing down at what they had accomplished.

"They do don’t they honeybun." He replied "I think you and I make a good team."

He knew that no one would be more surprised than he was at what they had managed to accomplish and couldn’t wait for his husband to get home to show off his and JR’s morning work.